HELLO AND HAPPY FALL!! 

Historically, fall is a time of celebration- honoring the harvest from the warmer months and preparing to rest. This harvest can be an actual one, or from the seeds you have metaphorically planted- intentions and manifestations that you put into action over the past months. As seasons change, we are reminded of impermanence and like nature, we get to transform too (if we choose to). Fall is a time for reflection, gratitude and preparation.  This is a time to give thanks, reflect on what has changed, and what we want to release, just as the trees let go of their leaves, we too must let go of the hypothetical leaves that we no longer want to hold on to! 

As we prepare to go into a season of rest and healing (winter) we need to send thanks and clean house both physically and metaphysically!

I’d like to share two rituals that I do around each autumnal equinox. 

DEEP GRATITUDE PRACTICE:

Sit outside (if you can)-  I like to feel really connected and grounded during this practice so I literally ground myself. 

Take a few deep breaths, your eyes can be opened or closed during this practice. 

Ask your guides, ancestors and any spiritual leader(s) or energy source that you connect with to be with you during this practice. You can call forward the energy of God, Jesus, Mother or Mary Magdalene, The Buddha, The Goddess, Great Spirit, Allah, Muhammad, Krishna, any deity or spiritual figure you connect with. This is by no means a complete list, but an example that anyone with any belief system can participate in this practice. 

From your heart, express gratitude. Say "THANK YOU" say it out loud, "THANK YOU"- and express what you are thankful for. 

An example: “Thank you for my able body, health, food, warm bed, family and friends, job (get specific)”….whatever resonates with you…and REALLY feel it. 

Send wholehearted thanks to everything tangible and intangible and especially to the spirit(s) or energy that you are connecting with. Thank them for the love, support, guidance etc. and sit in this matrix of thanks for a bit. 

At first it might be difficult to come up with things, especially if you are having a hard time in life or a  tough go at it. However, you can always find one thing that you are grateful for, start with your senses,  and once you bring that momentum forward, it’s likely that more things will pop up. And if you can’t find one thing, please reach out to me, I would be happy to speak with you and try to guide you toward some light. 

Send gratitude to the earth as your home. End with a final thank you to yourself and higher self for doing this beautiful practice.....sit with feelings of deep gratitude and appreciation until you are ready to complete the exercise. 

This practice always leaves me feeling SO FULL!!! Sometimes tears come to my eyes thinking about how grateful I am for both the big and little things in my life. Feel them fully. It’s been scientifically proven that a gratitude practice will increase happiness- “Research suggests that gratitude may be associated with many benefits….including better physical and psychological health, increased happiness and life satisfaction, decreased materialism, and more.” - If you want to learn more about gratitude this is a great resource! 

LET IT GO:

After my gratitude practice I am ready to release- I am basically Queen Elsa singing on top of the mountain “Let it go, let it go don’t hold it back anymore!!” 

Once I have been able to reflect on all the wonderful things, I have a pretty clear perspective on the things that are not making me feel so great… this can be in the form of a job, habit, person, really anything that leaves you feeling stuck or unhappy. Of course there are things and people that might make you feel that way, and you can’t let go of them due to circumstances, but I will get to that. But for the things that are an obvious- bye bye bye- here is my favorite ritual for setting intuitions and putting the wheels in motion to release and let go.

Begin by physically cleaning your space, get rid of clutter, recycle, donate, throw out, whatever does not “spark joy” as Marie Kondo says, needs to go. Fall is a season of transition and winter is the season for rest and healing, so prepare your space accordingly! Get it looking clean, organized and free from the things that you no longer need or want. 

After you have physically cleared your space….Energetically clear your space. I do two big space clearings a year, spring and fall…check out this blog post about space clearing if you don’t know how. Do a clearing ritual and get your space feeling energetically fresh! Free of stagnation, heaviness, spirits, whatever might be lingering in there! 

Next, write down the things you want to release:

Bad habits, relationships, qualities about yourself that you don’t love, ANYTHING!!!

Set those intentions. INTENTION IS EVERYTHING. THOUGHTS BECOME THINGS. I really can’t stress these points enough! 

And say them OUT LOUD:

I RELEASE (whatever it is)

I AM LETTING GO OF (whatever it is) 

Say it several times. 

If you are a visual person, you can imagine yourself as a tree, with each affirmation being a leaf falling to the earth to be transformed into something positive. If you need a bit more of a show (and sometimes I do), you can get a fire safe container, go outside and burn the paper after speaking the affirmations.

Now I want to touch on the situation where you know something is not good for your well being, but there is no escaping it. A person that rubs you the wrong way, but you are stuck with them for some reason, a sickness that is altering your life, physical illness, mental illness etc. there are so many things that we want to release but feel we just can’t…in these cases set the intention as: I AM CHANGING MY RELATIONSHIP WITH (whatever it is) and send it love. 

Sometimes this is the hardest thing to do, but transformation is always possible. My next post will be about changing our relationship to things that we feel we can’t change, so stay tuned :)  

With Gratitude,

Jacqueline